From Radio Free Asia’s mandarin service, translated by CDT:
Up to 200 farmers at Sanshangang (三山港) of Nanhai district (南海) in Foshan city of Guangdong put up a defense against both gangsters and the government officials who were trying to dispell them from the construction site that just started on 18,000 mu of land, worth of billions of yuan but illegally seized by the local government.
This time, the land protecting farmers almost clashed with their potential attackers, and in order to make sure construction not restart, farmers decided to guard the site overnight.
To protect their land, these villagers have already suffered tremendously from both the gang and the government. After accepting an interview with the Washington Post in late 2005, villager Chen Huiying (ÈôàÊÖßËã±) was handed a one-year labor re-education term for “accepting Hongkong lottery entries.” in 2006, seven other petition leaders were detained for “blackmailing and fraud” and tried while their lawyer was under “house arrest.”
With previous experiences, the farmers this time felt a lot of pressure and only less than 200 people dared to stand up and fight for their land. They hoped the media could help them get the voice out to the central government to “protect us weak peasants.” [Full Text in Chinese]
– Listen to the audio report here (Chinese)
